RedStain

yes they are still out there , just do a search for THE EUROGOURMET on the dogpile search engine

Is this them....

The EUROGOURMET is the only real artisan Food and Sausage Producer in Thailand. We specialize in supplying 5 star Hotels and Restaurants with top quality sausages, Terrines & Pate's, Sauces and even fully prepared Gourmet Meals.

A wide range of products is available, all prepared by or under the strict supervision by John, our Executive Chef who has worked on all continents and gathered in depth experience of a variety of Cuisines.

Any establishment or person is welcome to order from us, but minimum orders do apply. Among our customers are besides 5 star Hotels, Top Restaurants and even small Guesthouses where the owners simply understand that offering their customers top quality produce secures long term success thanks to customer satisfaction and return business.

Ive all ways bought Acer while here in Thailand , never once had a problem and the service network

seems to be good, as for the Lenovo , are they the ones who bought out a USA computer company

some time back , but as all ways the brand name laptop is only as good as the customer service

so not too sure about the service on a Lenovo.

Ive just got a new car, and the show room who did all the paper work and finance said I would have to wait

around 2 months for a correct number to be issued , and I had to pay a deposit for the red number, which I hope to get back

I was talking to my Friends wife (Thai) about how much road tax they pay per year for there pick up (2.7 cc Petrol Two door, king cab) and she told me that she pay’s 900 Baht a year in road tax,…. one other thing she also mentioned was that if the vehicle Is registered in a Thais name the road tax is less,..(Will have to get your thoughts on that one..?) Than if it were registered in a foreigner’s name (the pick up is in her name not my friends)

Just to try and understand the road tax system here, can any forum members post how much they pay every year for their road tax, I’ve heard it’s some thing to do with the vehicles engine size, number of doors, and seating capacity …?

So what do you guy’s pay …?

Thank you …….

Thanks Guy's for the comments ...Please keep them coming ...ive a lot to learn

Thanks..............

Ive been reading this Forum with some considerable interest, and several times the recommendation to install Firefox ........Has come up.

As a relative newcomer to computers and a user of Internet Explorer ( ive not yet used any thing else) . Ive read several articles on Pro - Firefox web sites which sing its praises.

Could Forum members who have switched from being IE users to Firefox users please outline ( in not too technical terms ) their feelings and comments after switching , was it as good as you expected ..? And in your mind was it worth the effort in changing over, or was it in any way disappointing for you and in fact you decided switched back. To your original Browser..? (May be due to the intensive promotion of Firefox ) and not being what all the hype claimed it was?

I hope from forum members who have switched over to get some facts and genuine comments both good and bad about switching over to Firefox. . Being a computer newcomer with a new computer, I am very carefull in what I do / change/ download / so getting some first hand advice and comments should help me in my decision to … Switch or not to switch that is the question.

Thanks …….

Every morning between 4.10 & 4.15 Exactly I am Forcibly woken up by the high pitched siren like call of my neighbours Cock. who ive come to name as " sod off " due to the fact they are my first words spoken when he wakes me up, this Cock and I have come to know each other well over a period of time, During the day this king of the coupe , This purveyor of pain struts his way to my gate, there he stands in all his glory with

his shimmering uniform of red , green and black. He then has the nerve to push his regal head through the railings and look me stright in the eye, and let's rip with a full blast war cry. ive managed to get with in Two feet of him, and can confirm that infact after his resounding war cry he does the equlvante of a human smile

the chicken's smile of I'm the boss around here mate !!. . So " sod off " thinks he's the boss does he well with the help of forum members may be I can knock him down a peg or to. ..Here's my questions... First how the hel_l does " sod off " know when its exactly 4.10 AM its pitch black out side no sun rise or morning light ... ?

Second Does a froum member know a Hallucinogenic substance which I could slip into his food, that would cause him to alter his internal clock, may be back 4 hours , so he would then trumpet his racket at around 8.15 AM, which in my mind is an acceptable time to be woken up. Ive considerd Murder but the repercussions , knowing from spying through my neighbours fence and watching my neighbour with his cock firmly held between his knees , giving the bird a shower and rubdown. would cause problems as its obvious from watching just what's going on between them, that the neighbour has a deep and worring

bond with his bird. I'm not sure how much more I can take from " sod off " before the signs of Alektorophobia set in and I am also forced to partake in a hallucinognic substance to retain my normal sleep patterns.

help please ...... RS

Just seen this about the Chamg Mai Night Safari .......

Long-time expats call the ‘tourist price’ unfair. Businesses would rather not talk about it.

The long-running debate about the justness of dual pricing has again flared up with the opening of such venues as the Chiang Mai Night Safari and the Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC), which charge foreigners up to four times as much as locals.

Many attractions in Thailand – public, private, religious and historical – charge locals a lower price than farangs. The practice has gone on for decades, but many say that doesn’t make it fair.

The people up in arms aren’t so much the tourists whom the schemes largely target, but those in the expatriate community who have had time to let the prejudicial practice sink in and fester.

They say their anger toward dual pricing has nothing to do with the money, but everything to do with feeling accepted in Thailand. The practice of dual pricing makes many feel shunned, like ugly stepchildren, by their adopted motherland.

The price difference can also be irksome because of the racial judgment involved.

Technically, anyone not holding a Thai ID card is a foreigner, but often only white westerners, being easy to spot, are singled out. “Two or three Chinese, if they keep their mouths shut, will get in for the local price,” complains one expat.

The double-standard also assumes foreigners have more money than Thais, but there are Thais who drive Mercedes and live in mansions, just as there are backpackers traveling on less than a shoestring.

Dual pricing is a hobbyhorse that brings like-minded people together. Internet chat rooms are devoted to the topic; there is even a website, fairprice-thailand.org, that reports on businesses and attractions around Thailand that “discriminate on the grounds of race, nationality or immigration status.”

The site gets about 50,000 visits a year and receives 40 dual-price-warning emails from the public each month, all of which contribute to a list of venues with price disparities that covers everything from temples to clinics.

Some in the forum question the legal ramifications of adopting an unequal pricing system (there are none in Thailand), while others want to know if their residency or work permit status gives them the right to Thai prices. The answer to the latter is as unpredictable as the weather; it depends on each venue’s guidelines combined with the likelihood that a ticket vendor will bend the rules when confronted with a reddening farang face.

Many farangs, though, might not even know they’re paying more than locals. Stickman is an expat teacher who has lived in Thailand for eight years and runs the popular website stickmanbangkok.com.

During his time in the city he learned to read, write and speak Thai. He says that many places with dual pricing will post the Thai price using Thai numerals, even though conventional Arabic numerals are customarily used for everything else.

“I think that is a bit sneaky, the way they do it,” he says. “It’s like they know that it is wrong.”

No doubt, dual pricing is a sensitive issue for proprietors.

Underwaterworld is a privately owned tourist attraction in Pattaya. The director declined to answer why Thai tickets are 180 baht, half the price foreigners are charged.

Public attractions such as national parks use taxpayer money for upkeep and operating costs. Their managers justify dual pricing as a subsidy to citizens, but are hesitant to discuss the issue in detail.

The director of the publicly funded TCDC, Chaiyong Ratana-Ung-Goon, set up an interview appointment, only to cancel it and shoot off a two-line email explaining that dual pricing is a common practice in Thailand and therefore okay. He also added that foreigners who contribute tax can get a membership for Thai prices.

He didn’t address how a taxpaying foreigner might be expected to prove his or her status on the spot to a TCDC representative.

Pisarn, a chief administrator of the Chiang Mai Night Safari, was the only authority to agree to a telephone interview. He refused to give his last name for fear he would be misunderstood, and approached the subject defensively – as if being attacked by one of the animals in his park.

Pisarn explained the price differential was necessary because of Thailand’s status as a developing country; because Thai people are poorer, they should pay less.

“If you go to Africa, they have the same thing,” he says.

The problem is this: Pisarn’s rationalization goes against the thinking of many of his fellow citizens.

Pongpitch Yangyuen, 24, says he doesn’t think dual pricing is fair, that it even goes against the welcome-to-the-land-of-smiles atmosphere that the Tourism Authority of Thailand promotes. “If it happened to me in another county, I would feel like an outsider,” he says. “They [farangs] should feel comfortable; they are coming all this way to visit our country.”

Thais worry that tourists won’t feel welcome, but it appears that the majority shirk off the price difference to get on with their sightseeing and hope that their inflated contributions are going to good causes.

David Palssom from Sweden has been traveling around Thailand for three months and says dual pricing hasn’t affected his travels or positive perspective of the country. “Everything’s still cheap,” he says. “I think it’s not a big problem as long as it goes to good things.”

But Gordon Sharpless, an expat of eight years, passionately believes that nothing good can come from charging people different prices based on the color of their skin. Not only does the travel writer believe the policy is racist, he thinks that it teaches discrimination.

Sharpless expects that many small businesses will think that because the government employs dual pricing, they can too. “It’s a negative message to the locals that its okay to discriminate against people who have another passport than yours,” he says.

What can be done instead of just complaining?

For starters, there is the website

fairprice-thailand.org, which has made some slight changes in the way things are done in here. The webmaster, who refuses to be named for fear of retribution by the government for his online activism, says change cannot happen over a beer and a rant.

“It is no good just bitching about things,” he says. “Put it out there and get people to discuss it.”

He regularly lobbies hotels and other establishments that practice dual pricing. So far, he says his website has managed to get the Bangkok Post to stop publishing dual rates for hotel rooms in its travel section. He also says he was able to change the Bangkok Marriott’s dual-room-rate policy. The hotel wouldn’t comment on the matter.

“This is not to tackle a financial issues,” he says. “It’s more than that. At the heart of it is Thailand’s accommodation of people from the outside.”

One email message came to the website that was particularly poignant. A man, half-Thai and half-western, wrote in that he and his luk kreung child had been singled out at the gates of a National Park. In front of his Thai wife, he was made to pay the foreigner price (200 baht), while she was accepted at 20 baht.

He didn’t mind shoveling out the money, but he told the website users that it made him wonder about the future – where his son would fit in Thai society, and whether he isn’t considered a member of the populace.

“Mixed-race is here in Thailand,” says the webmaster. “It is time for Thailand to accept it.”

While some boycott places that engage in dual pricing, others find a way around it. Stickman has several methods: have a Thai buy the ticket, give the exact change for a Thai-priced ticket (with a bit of Thai thrown in), show a Thai ID of some sort, and if all that doesn’t work, say it’s illegal and throw a fit.

But what Stickman recommends most of all (he says it works every time) is just being nice. Compliments, he says, will get you there.

At the end of the day, while the practice is still going strong, Pisarn from the night safari reminds each person that who they give their business to is a choice of their own.

“It is the right of any owner to set the price,” he says. “But the client, if they don’t like the price, they should not come and have a look.”

Meanwhile, fairprice-thailand.org is setting up a new consumer rights website that warns about places that don’t let Thais inside.

The webmaster explains that his fight has nothing to do with money; it’s about trying to get Thailand to change its perspective on “outsiders.”

“There are foreign people living in Thailand,” he says. “How is Thailand going to accommodate them?”

RedStain.................

I saw this in the letters page , .........

White Faced refugees from Islam

Even now we can see it plating out on Europe's streets, the beginning of the conquest of non - Muslims. After 30 years of appeasement , accommodation and cultural abidication to foreign Muslim immigrants, Europe is rapidly evolving from a judeo - christian civilisation to a secular - Muslim transitional society on its way to Sharia by the end of this century. European governments encouraged Muslim immigration into Europe, discouraged assimilation, and fostered the dissemination in Europe of Islamic perspectives on history and contemporary politics . All for oil.

Now its too late, France, England and much of Scandinavia are already essentially Muslim states. After the Beslan child massacres and the bombings in London and Spain. it won't be much longer before migration of white Europeans becomes a mass exodus of those who can afford to leave.

Where will all these future white - faced refugees from Islam go ? most probably to the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. However ,many will doubtless find their way to faraway lands offering tolerance and freedom, places like the Dominican Republic and Thailand .

How will the Thai people react to an ever increasing number of Europeans in their midst ?. Will the Europeans be able to integrate into Thai society and culture or will they segregate themselves in housing estates ?What effect will their presence have on Thailand and on the European immigrants , themselves ?How will Thailand cope with this influx of white refugees and what are the long - term consequences for Asia and for Buddhism ?.How can those of European descent already living in Thailand and integrated avoid being caught up in any backlash that might develop from the swelling numbers of new arrivals ? .

What is he/she trying to say....?

...... Red